Ma Lianliang (28 February 1901 – 16 December 1966) was a Peking opera singer.

Ma Lianliang
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMǎ Liánliáng
Wade–GilesMa Lien-liang

Life

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Ma was best known for his "old man" roles (, lǎoshēng) and was considered one of Peking Opera's "Four Great Beards" (t , s , p Sì Dà Xūshēng), along with Tan Fuying, Yang Baosen, and Xi Xiaobo. He served as a mentor to Li Yuru.[1] For most of his life, he stayed in mainland China, except for 1948–1950, when he lived in Hong Kong (which was still a colony of Britain) for medical treatment.

During Mao Zedong's cultural revolution, Ma was named a "poisonous weed" after having appeared in a production that Mao believed implicitly criticized him. A group of revolutionaries called Red Guards assaulted Ma in the street and broke his leg. Before the end of the year, he would die of his injuries.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Li Ruru (2010), "2010 Commemorations of the Theatrical Careers of Cao Yu and Li Yuru" (PDF), CHINOPERL Papers, vol. No. 29, Conference on Chinese Oral and Performing Literature, p. 226, doi:10.1179/chi.2010.29.1.217, ISSN 0193-7774, S2CID 191673008 {{citation}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  2. ^ Weijian Shan (26 January 2019), "China Turned Upside Down Life During Mao's Bloody, Chaotic Cultural Revolution", Foreign Affairs, vol. 98
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